The Procrastination Fight: A Choice

We are continuing our series on the impact of procrastination on leaders. Wow, can I seriously say that after my absence of writing this blog? Almost seems as if life was setting me up for a great ending to this series. Ah, life. The great “Murphy’s Law” interrupter of a leader. And so, as we finish this series on procrastination, we will discuss the one thing we don’t control, but discuss how to minimize its impact.

If you haven’t read the first 3 parts of this series, I encourage you to go back and read them. Many have shared with me the struggle with procrastination. And I have been transparent to share it impacts me as a leader too. This final part of the series is to give you support and to understand, procrastination does not discriminate on who it messes with on a daily basis.

A group of three leaders were having a discussion on the recent changes to the budget for their organization. As the traditional scene unfolded, it was not surprising the budget change was to lessen the resources but demand greater output. The leaders in discussion were initializing their thoughts on how to move forward.

Leader One was discussing how he was going to eliminate a program in his department. It was under performing, he had problems staffing it, and the outcomes for this department were way below benchmarks. Leader Two as frustrated over why the budget cuts were happening, didn’t believe they were needed and wasn’t going to do anything to their area. Leader Three didn’t have a clue on how he was going to reduce his budget by the required amount and sat quietly.

Procrastination as we have discussed affects everyone. Many have to find the motivation to combat it’s effect. When you have identified the goal, you then own it and it has to be important to you. Leader Three is in need of discovering the goal and owning it. His ability to then make plans on what he has and needs to do would become clearer and he can lead forward.

Leader 2 is dealing with the unknown. The caveat is they will state disbelief in what is asked. Similar to dealing with motivation in fighting procrastination, when dealing with the unknown, if you do not engage in the process and assess the issue, then you lose opportunities, options, momentum, and ultimately you lose impact and effectiveness as a leader.

Leader One is facing his “Known” obstacle head on. He has decided to tackle it ought right and not delay on his decision. Leader One has been engaged in his budget program, knows what is needed in his department, knows the impacts of his decisions, and had evidence to back up his decision and direction. Leader One in this scenario is not letting procrastination drive his impact.

But life, oh life is not always beneficial to a leader’s day. In this scenario, like many others, leaders are not always prepared for the pop up challenges which they face. These distractors and attention getters can really put your schedule into a tail spin. And for how long?

Procrastination IS a part of a leader’s life. And at times, it is the only option. Life provides for many distractions. This option for combating procrastination is your “Get Out of Jail Free” card. Sometimes you use procrastination as a leadership action.

If you do, though, KNOW the consequences.

My life for the past 1.5 months, since the last time I posted on procrastination, has been out of control. I have retired from my first job, planned a retirement ceremony and celebration, put together resumes and completed job applications, applied for positions, interviewed, and moved my family half way across the country. I also tried to spend time with family before my move, invest in friendships before they changed, and continued to work a job. Life.

You have similar life events in both your personal and professional life. I chose not to focus on my next blog post because there were many higher priorities. And to be honest, I didn’t have the energy I believe, to put into writing this blog. I chose not to complete my blog and I knew there would be consequences.

In your life, you can and at times should choose procrastination as a leadership option. We as leaders struggle sometimes with balancing all the requirements. Every requirement should be a is top priority to someone. But is it yours? An uneasy task for leaders is determining what requirement you are not going to complete. And why.

And why. The key to selective procrastination is the determining the why you are choosing it as an option. When doing so, you choose the consequences to your decision and the outcomes which may follow. At times those can be minor and don’t impact your leadership, influence, or effectiveness. Other consequences may have completely different impacts. But, the decision to procrastinate has always been yours. The difference, you are now choosing it.

The important aspect of this decision though is when do you stop the procrastination. Similarly when you decide to focus your personal budget on paying off one high credit card debt. You pay the minimum on the other credit card debts, in other words procrastinate on paying them off, so you can focus your finances on the one with the highest interest rate. Once you pay that bill off, then you should refocus your finances on the next bill. Should. If you determined to procrastinate on the other bills for a time which is wise, you should determine when you are no longer procrastinating on them and make the plan and stick with it to pay them off.

The same holds true in your leadership life as well. When you make the decision to procrastinate on a requirement, then make a plan to end it and stick with the plan. This strategy allows you to control how long you procrastinate and also allows you to manage some of the consequences. Additionally, you are now putting limits on your procrastination. You have defined what your parameters are, you have assessed possible consequences, outcomes, and impacts, and determined how long you can use this strategy. In other words, you are controlling the procrastination and it is not leading you!

My hope and goal for this series was to provide you some time to think about the impact of procrastination on your leadership. Also, I wanted to give you some opportunities and practical ways to change leadership behaviors and patterns of your use and the impact of procrastination on your leadership. In the end, procrastination is yours to control.

Leading with you,

Dean

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